These are my river runs & trips in North Cali, as well as some other whitewater kayaking stuff. Find my e-mail under "About Me"....

Monday, May 9

Boat Demo - Dagger "Mamba"

Dagger Mamba

Since I haven't spent much time in more creek style boats, I demo'ed the Dagger Mamba this weekend on "The Gorge" of the American - South Fork at over 4,000 cfs. I wasn't bowled over - I didn't find it that comfortable and I was surprised that it didn't track as well as I expected on flat water. I'm only 5'10" 155# but the foot brace was almost all the way forward. It was fairly easy to get on a wave and it would actually surf. It seems to be a pretty forgiving boat, but all-in-all I think it is pretty pedestrian in terms of overall performance. The demo shop said that they're using it for a lot of beginner classes given its rollability. It's probabaly a pretty good boat for newbies. Would I take it on a big water class IV? - maybe. But I'd try something like the Wavesport Diesel first.